Living the Season:
Zen Practice for Transformative Times
As most of us cannot deny, we are in the midst of complete transformation-ecologically, economically, politically and culturally. Living the Seasons: Zen Practice for Transformative Times gracefully introduces creative safe passage through the sometimes overwhelming transition, drawing on ancient and contemporary spiritual practices to create an essential hands-on beginner's guide to developing a meaningful meditation practice for daily life.
The endings we experience are always the beginning of something else. Hence author Ji Hyang Padma organizes teachings around the four seasons. In living connected to natural rhythms-the stillness of winter, the renewal of spring, the ripening of summer, the harvest of autumn-she teaches us how to touch a wholeness that is the source of healing and happiness.
Practical exercises at the end of each chapter promote this state of being and bring the mind home to its innate clarity. Ideally suited to anyone experiencing personal change-through career, relationships or world events-the book provides a way into Zen for beginners as well as a refresher for the more advanced.
Praise for Living the Season:
“This book will truly transform the life of every reader. Ji Hyang Padmas’s writing is graceful, poetic, and flows so beautifully. The stories of her life and practice are truly inspiring and create a desire to dive in and do the work. This book is a gem and is brilliant.”
“A smart and practical guide for making zen a part of your everyday life. Read it and be transformed!”
“Ji Hyang’s work offers a centered, creative pathway amidst these rushing rivers; through the practices of staying open and connected to our spirit she helps people rediscover their connection to luminous awareness— the wisdom and energy which is within each of us.”
“In practicing Zen, nothing beats the practice. Ji Hyang’s new book, Living the Season, is exceptional in focusing on just that and not in indulging in conceptual fantasies about Zen - a cup of tea and not talk about tea, a cup of tea she hands us to taste for ourselves.”
“Ji Hyang Padma is a lioness roaring. Within her sound we receive instruction and comfort, wisdom and transformative skills for the spiritual parcourse we are all hiking together. I bow in gratitude for this delicious gift.”
“Ji Hyang Padma’s Living the Season is a wise and lyrical introduction to meditation practice and mindful living. We as individuals, as a nation, and as inhabitants of Planet Earth are all transforming — whether we find it comfortable, or not. A former Buddhist nun and current Interfaith Advisor at Wellesley College, Padma offers both historical perspective and practical guidance for living a more mindful and present life in the midst of change and challenge. What Martin Luther King, Jr. said about Thich Nhat Hanh’s writings also holds true for Padma’s: ‘[Her] ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world [brother and sisterhood], to humanity.”
“Living the Season is like a flower that opens in your hands, reminding you to dissolve into the grace of each moment. Ji Hyang offers a lucid picture of Zen, and how it applies to us, today, now, with simple techniques that are each like a haiku of wisdom.”
“Ji Hyang words are a flowing meditation in mindfulness. Her writing is poetic and magnetic, each page wrapped in wisdom and practical teachings for change and transformation at a soul and spirit level. A powerful storyteller and healer whose words refresh, enlighten and are deeply restorative.”
“Ji Hyang Padma has superbly anchored a living wisdom into our modern world in the writing of this book. Her accessible and practical strategies for ‘open heart’ living are guaranteed to awaken your soul, connect you to yourself, and transform your life. This book is a must-read for our busy and troubled times.”
“With the brushstrokes of an artist, Ji Hyang provides for us the natural cycles of the seasons as an effective pathway from our current identification with the mind to the intuitive/feeling nature of the heart, which from my personal experience is the beginning of wisdom. I recommend Living the Season for any serious student on the path toward enlightenment. Congratulations, Ji Hyang.”